Perfume Genius will play a show at The Iron Horse in Northampton on April 6 2012.

Mike Hadreas a.k.a. Perfume Genius talks about his tours, his past, his music, and furry felines. Perfume Genius is currently touring to showcase his second album 'Put Your Back N 2 It.' Don't be caught off guard by the name his music is all played on the piano and sung with quiet passion. He sings about topics that most don’t like to think about and brings an intensity to the stage like few others.

First off, how is the tour going?

It’s pretty good. The home base is in Jersey right now at The Holiday Inn. We drive from there to New York and Philadelphia. It’s good… I think.

Your last tour was more international. What was it like to travel the world with your music?

Super fun. This tour is a lot different. There is a big difference between the tour for the first album in the States and Europe. Probably because there were more people at the shows.[Laughs]When there are a lot of people that are quiet you can really feel the intensity.

How are people responding to the shows?

It’s been really great. I think I am very meek and nervous when I perform. I think people were scared to clap in-between songs [during my last tour.] This time people are singing along, hooting and hollering between songs, and afterwards people are really excited. It’s just really different and really awesome.

I saw that you sold out your New York shows for tonight and Thursday. How does that feel?

Well it makes me nervous but, I guess everything does. [Laughs]

Are those the first shows that sold out?

I think we sold out San Francisco and L.A. That’s what they said anyways. They could’ve just been talking me up.

What is your favorite part about touring? What don't you like?

I like the purposefulness of it. I like having a schedule so I know exactly what I am supposed to be anxious about. [Laughs] Sort of like a general anxiety, like, I have a show tonight, and I can put all my nerves into that.

You kind of get lost. You are in a different city every day and you don’t know what day it is. It’s fun.

It’s really hard to process stuff. You don’t have time to figure it [emotions and stress] out.

Your music is deeply personal. As one shy person to another I can understand why it is different to speak out to a bunch of people you don't know versus those who are close to you. Were the people in your life surprised when they heard your albums?

I think they were more surprised I actually did something at that point. [Laughs] I was living with my mom. There were so many things that I did [at that time.] I got sober. It seems like that was really important to do. Even if my friends and my parents didn’t really understand the music they were glad I was doing something that I was passionate about and following through with everything.

Do you find it challenging to push past what is considered “normal” and write music that says what nobody else is saying?

Um…No. [Laughs] Not on the first album. I didn’t think anyone else would hear it besides my friends. With the second album I was a lot more deliberate. I was thinking a lot more about how it would be received. That was a lot different but, it’s what I want to do.

Somebody touring the world pouring out his soul to whoever listens. That sounds pretty intense for a shy person. Do you find that you put yourself in positions like that to get over your shyness or is it just something that comes with doing what you love?

A little bit of both. I realized that the only way I can get better in any way is when I do pretty much what I’ve avoided my whole life. Which is being uncomfortable in any way. I found out I could drink and that would take care of that but before drinking I just didn’t do [things that make me uncomfortable.] I hope, it’s kind of a hippie thing, that people see that I can be healthy even if it’s difficult and I can share things even though they are difficult.

Moving back in with your mother is somewhat of a social taboo. Even though you have since found your own place what was that like for you?

I think if I had a choice I wouldn’t have done that. But, it really was the only option. Thank god I had it. It was nice. My mom had remarried and it was nice to see more my stepdad who I would have only seen on holidays and things like that. So, it was nice to live with him and feel like he was part of the family quicker than if I had only seen him every six months. Also to just have a relationship with my mom and family as an adult was a good thing.

In an interview with StereoGum you mentioned your writing process has an emphasis on your lyrics. They come first. Do you think this process will change?

Maybe. I don’t think so though. That is the way I listen to music. My boyfriend now is a trained musician and he definitely listens to music first. We will listen to a song and I will really like it but I wouldn’t really be listing to chord structure or anything. I was just listening to music.

Have you put any thought into new music or a new album yet?

Oh…sort of. It kind of changes all the time though.

As far as I know you started creating music in 2008 and your first album 'Learning' was released in 2010. How did you learn to play the piano?

I took piano lessons from when I was 7 until I was 15. I was a bad student.

I always wanted to sing. Out of everything that is what I wanted to do. Even if I am alone you feel like someone is going to catch you. So you never really sing out fully. Once I was singing alone and I thought something like ‘I sing the right way’ or that 'this is the right way for me.’ And then I thought I could actually sing something. That’s a really awful story. [Laughs]

At what point did you know you want to write and sing your own music?

It just kinda happened. I had always talked a lot and wrote poetry, all kinds of teenager stuff like that but, I don’t know I felt like I had something I needed to talk about. I felt like the best way to do that would be music and if I could figure that out at all then I was going to try. So, I tried and it felt good. I kept doing it.

I read somewhere that your father pushed you to make your music a viable career. When did you first find yourself thinking “Hmm...This could work.”

Probably not until the second album. I wasn’t sure if I could even make anything else after the first one. It’s not something I had planned for myself or that I even knew how to do. I made something and I take it seriously. I work as hard as I can. It feels more like a career now. I am pumped!

I heard you like cat stuff. I have some roommates who have a “cat wall” with a bunch of pictures of cats. Do you have anything like that? Did your cat merchandise idea ever take off?

I had a cat wall at my old apartment. I wanted to put up all my pictures in my new apartment but, my boyfriend, he didn’t want me to. [Laughs] I made a t-shirt though. A cat t-shirt that I sell at shows.